Travel mercies

I'm trying to tie up all of my last minute activities before taking my son on a trip with me for a week in Anchorage, Alaska. We'll be visiting my brother and his family. I'll be working on this trip, but we'll fit in some time for an excursion or two. Plus, my son and nephews will get to hang out together and enjoy the long Alaska days.

I'm desparately scrambling to finish up some important work before I embark. The first thing I have to finish ASAP (and that means writing on the plane most likely) are the chapters I'm contributing to a new book called Database Benchmarking to be published by Rampage Press - home to well known Oracle experts Don Burleson and Mike Ault. I have miles to go before I sleep.

One SQL Server expert that I can't seem to get enough of, and I mean that in an intellection sense, is Tom Davidson. He's written some excellent white papers and resources. Tom has written another gem called OLTP Blueprints that is a must for anyone who spends a lot of time doing SQL Server performance tuning.

What other tuning resources are essential for you? I'd like to know and I'll reward the best recommendation in July with a copy of either of my recent books: "SQL in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition" or "Professional SQL Server 2005 Database Design & Optimization". So send your hints, tips, and tricks to me at kevin_kline@sqlpass.org.